World Championships Team Announced
The following have been selected to represent Ireland at WOC 2012 in
Switzerland:
Ciara Largey, Rosalind Hussey, Darren Burke, Nicolas Simonin, Ruairi Short, Colm Hill, Hugh Cashell and David Healy.
Congratulations to the athletes on their selection, and thank you to the Selectors for their work. The team can be followed on Facebook , Twitter (Irish_O_Squad), and on the Squad webpage.
Ros and Ruairi also form the Irish team for the World Student Championships at Alicante in Spain in the first week of July.
- Darren Burke Director of High Performance Orienteering
Ireland at EYOC
Results are filtering through from France where the Irish team of Aoife McCavana, Róisín Long, Niamh Corbett, Jonathan Quinn, Eoin McCullough and Jack Millar are taking on Europe's best Junior orienteers.
Jonny scored a magnificent 15th place in M16 in the Sprint race at Meymac on Friday, and on Saturday the best result was Róisín Long's 37th in W16. See results, maps etc
here.
Thierry Gueorgiou had his first big victory in EYOC back in 1995 –
this was the first time the orienteering world got a real look at this
exceptional orienteer.
"As I now look back, my victory in the EYOC 95 was the real start of
my orienteering career and therefore always had a special taste,
Gueorgiou says.
-That’s also why I have much respect for this
competition which gives the first big emotions to young orienteers."
Looking at the results it is clear that none of the team will be pleased with their runs, except for the two mentioned above, but there'e still the Relay to run on Sunday. Watch this space for an update ...
(Update 1st July: The W18 girls finished in 18th place with a storming 3rd leg from Niamh Corbett, but finishing a tantalizing 5 seconds earlier would have moved them up two places. The M18's had two solid runs from Jack and Jonny but an unfortunate error in reading a control code on leg 3 caused the team to join the other teams who mispunched - 10 teams disqualified, including our nearest neighbours, Great Britain, and only 19 teams finished.).
The next EYOC will be in Israel in November 2013.
Jukola
2012
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| Jukola starts: 10.30 pm |
A thunderclap, a flash of light and the
dam bursts: a river of fire floods out from the field towards the
forest: the 64th Jukola relay has started.
The thunderclap was a Finnish Army tank
used as a starting pistol for the 1500 teams running into the Nordic
twilight. It is 10.30 on a June Saturday night and we are in Vantaa,
10 km from Helsinki Airport. Teams have come together from all over
Europe and from further afield to take part in the world's biggest
orienteering relay. The organisers expect some fifty thousand people
at the event over the weekend – between teams, spectators, families
and supporters.
A few Irish runners are involved: Nick
Simonin, running for his Swedish club Lidingo, placed 40th
, Colm Moran and Conor Short running for their Swedish club OK Tisaren
(132nd), Niamh O'Boyle, Julie Cleary running the Venla for London OK,
and myself and Ronan Cleary also running for London OK.
 |
| Venla starts 2 pm |
The orienteering kicked off with the
women's 4-leg “Venla” on a baking Saturday afternoon: a small
affair of only 1272 teams sent out to make tracks in the forest for
the men later (Not really! It's a very serious and hotly contested
race). The legs of the Venla range from 5.7 to 8.5 km. The runners
were going out in 31 degrees at 2 pm , but later in the day
things cooled for better running conditions. (Unfortunately the
weather changed for later runners in the Jukola on Sunday morning,
with heavy rain and 13C).
 |
| Kalevan Rasti finish |
This year's Jukola was the biggest
ever: 1689 teams of seven. The competition centre was based at a
sports centre with a running track, sports pitches, swimming pool and
outdoor skating rink. All the facilities were close together: food,
assembly, toilets, the field of army tents for the teams. Only the
showers and sauna were a bit out of the way.
I was a member of a loosely assembled
London OK team consisting of three Finns, two Irish and two English
runners. We have had much the same group running at Jukola for
several years – I think this was my 7th outing – and
there was the usual jockeying for who runs which leg, or maybe who doesn't run
which leg!. This year, fitness and injuries played their part in
determining who ran what. The first leg, the “river of fire”
mass start, is probably the defining leg of the Jukola, where you get
swept along in the flood through the night for 12.8 km. The first
three legs (12.8, 12.7 and 14.1 km) are largely night legs (at least
for the faster teams), then the 7.8, 8.1 and 10.3 km legs in dawn and
daylight and the final 15.5 km leg to the finish, making 80 km in
total. None of us wanted to do the last leg, but Ronan decided that
the buck stopped with him and took it on.
Bear Rock?
Before the Venla started the announcer
warned the runners that there was an out of bounds area used by
hunters (archers, actually) with life-size elk, boar, bears and
wolves as targets: don't be frightened if you see them. He repeated
the warning for the Jukola runners: could be unnerving at night. In a departure from the norm (reportedly to improve TV coverage), the mass start maps were not strung on wires above the heads of the runners, but put on the ground at their feet.
Evening. Time to plan. Eat about 6 pm
(the food is good, about €8 for a main course with bread and a
drink. Take your plate and eat on tables in the open air). Go to the
orienteering shops and sports supermarket (they usually have good value in
sleeping bags and other bits and pieces). A huge selection of O-gear,
shoes, headlamps (from €10 to €800) and anything you can think
of. Except bananas: for some reason there was no supermarket this year and you couldn't get a banana, the staple food of the distance athlete, for love or money. And this year the usual betting office, where you could bet on who would win the race, seemed absent too.
8 pm: time for the first leg runners to
eat. Join the queue. There's obviously a problem – they have run
out of food and they won't have any for another hour! Disbelief. Go
to look for a grill selling something: at last, pytt y panna (fried
potatoes with bacon – a lifesaver). Later, the food arrives for the
restaurant proper and calm is restored.
Jussi ran the first leg, doing the
predicted 2 hours 22 mins, then David Rosen took over. He had
predicted 2.5 hours but finally came back in 3 hours. His headlight
had given up and he had to use his back-up light just to read the
map.
Pasi, another Finn, ran the third night
leg in 2 hours 33, just 3 minutes longer than his prediction. We were
now nearly 8 hours into the race. (I never met Pasi: he lives close
to the event so he came from home, ran, and went home again.) At this
stage we were running a good bit behind schedule: I had anticipated
running the 5th leg at about 06.30 so I set my alarm in
the tent for 05.45 (03.45 Irish time). We were able to check how our
team was doing on the internet by phone, so I realised I wouldn't have to
run until about 8 am so I turned over and tried to sleep. The PA
system came to life again around 5 a.m., though, to announce the
progress of the winning teams (expected to finish about 06.30) so
sleep was impossible.
After a coffee, a doughnut and a bowl
of porridge I was ready to run. Through the EMIT card check, scan my
race number bar code (“John?” Yes. “Go ahead”). Into the
start field. Over to the computer station, put the EMIT card on the
card reader to bring up my team's position: I can see how David
Saunders is doing at the radio controls so I know when to expect him.
David runs in, punches the finish,
gives in his map in and runs around the U-shaped loop, takes my map for
me and runs over to the changeover section for teams 1000-1200. “Any
advice?” “Enjoy it. Just orienteer!”
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| Finished! |
I run out with a Finnish runner. He
says something to me which I don't understand (My Finnish is limited
to essentials like “Airport”, “Porridge” and “Thank you”).
He then explains in English that I should check I have the right map.
Two of the top Finnish women's teams in Saturday's Venla were
disqualified for taking the wrong maps. Conditions are perfect: dry,
bright and cool.
The run to the start control was an
incredible 1050 metres: across fields, up a hill through the forest
(through a swathe of felling just for the event), down and across
another field and up the hill to the triangle. It took me 7 minutes.
Now the map – 10,000 scale, very clear: lots of hills, a few paths,
lots of marsh and bare rock. The first control – a knoll – the
key to the course and the most important control. Make sure you get
it right. Round the side of the hill, across the marsh (feet wet and
muddy already), keep the bare rock on your left: must be around here
– there are some people about 10 metres to my right: that's it, control
151. Excellent.
Now, take the small path – keep it
simple – across the bare rock to the track, check where the first
aid post is, down the spur to the 2.5 metre boulder. OK. Keep
going: 3, 4, drinks station, 5 a knoll on the bare rock – visible
from 20 metres. 6, 7 OK. - a longish leg to 8 across track – hill
– marsh - hill -track. Through the green and up the hill –
semi-open forest, a big boulder, a knoll: OK. I hear a cuckoo –
much later than in Ireland. 9 along the low ground between the rocky
hills, 10 down the steep hill and around the lake (left or right?
Left looks slightly shorter and right has some out of bounds: go
left). Pass some bemused fishermen, along some slippery wooden planks
(should I have worn dobb spike shoes?)
Across the open marsh to 10? Forget it
– too deep looking. Everglades. Around the path and across the
crags. OK. 11: follow the path for a bit then over the hill – count
the spurs. Along the top and drop down to the crag off the round hill
with bare rock. OK. 12: across the reentrant and over the hill.
Getting close to the end now – keep moving. 13 down the steep hill
to the edge of the field, then a marked route for 390 metres. I see
crowds of runners coming towards me on the outbound marked route –
it's the mass start at 09.15 for the remaining runners. The
remaining 7th leg runners had already gone at 09.00. Keep
an eye out for our 6th leg runner,Olli, but it's just a
blur of hundreds of people running towards me.
Into the last section: four controls
plus the run-in. 14 OK, 15 easy – a bridge in an open field. A
mistake going to 16 – should have run around the hill, not over the
top, but no matter. 17 down to a boulder through the long grass – a
path already made by earlier runners, then down the hill, over the
bridge and down the finish chute into the leg 1-3-5 lane. Punch the
finish, stop the watch, hand in the map, get a drink. 92 minutes for
8.2 km/345 metres climb. Slow enough, though: team in 1154th
place - I gained 92 places. Happy with that, considering my fitness.
No real mistakes. Big opportunities for time loss if you lose contact
with the map here. My approach was to go for a run with a map, keep
in contact and keep moving. It worked well, although the knees had
not recovered from the Wicklow Way relay 3 weeks before.
Back to the tent. Get some food and
drink. Then the rain came and the temperature dropped to 13 degrees.
Heavier rain. Olli comes in from leg 6, a drowned rat. 1.57 as
against a prediction of 2.00. He gained a further 47 places.
Now to wait for Leg 7, Ronan. The
condition he imposed for running the final leg was that we be there
at the finish for him. A good idea when the weather was sunny, but not so
attractive in the cold and wet. So we stood in the rain and waited.
Check the radio control times – should be in soon. Runners of all
shapes and sizes coming in, looking at the last control, run down to
it and – whoosh! - slide down the slippery slope on their
backsides. An undignified approach to the last control. Groups of
other runners play follow-the-leader: brain dead, they puzzle ov the
last controls after visiting the leg 7 one only to realise (a) that
it's not theirs and (b) they haven't a clue where they are because
they switched off approaching the finish.
Ronan runs in, a marathon time of 3.15
brings us in to 1108
th in a time of 16 hours 17 minutes.
The PA plays "Rawhide" (except the "Rollin', Rollin; Rollin' ... " sounded like "Ronan, Ronan, Ronan ..." ) The words of the song seemed strangely appropriate, even if he wasn't playing it just for us:
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them dogies rollin'
Rawhide!
Rain and wind and weather
Hell-bent for leather
Wishin' my gal was by my side.
All the things I'm missin',
Good vittels, love, and kissin',
Are waiting at the end of my ride
The rain struck when he was half way around but he kept moving
forward to the end.
At the front end of the competition,
Finland's Kalavan Rasti had 8 minutes to spare over Swedish club
Malungs OK so Kalevan Rasti will run next year as team number 1. Last
year's winners, Halden from Norway, finished 3rd, a
further 4 minutes down. Halden took first place in the Venla, race,
with Finlands Paimion Rasti second and Denmark's OK Pan third.
Some of us decided that it would be
our last Jukola: the legs on the course aren't getting any shorter
and none of us is getting any younger (don't ask the average age of
the team!).
But then, look at the shapes, sizes and
ages of the runners coming in. Look at the hundreds of teams behind
us.
See the Jukola web site here for results, photos, routegadget etc. If you're not there you can follow it live on the internet. Jukola party, anyone?
Look at next year's Jukola in Jamsa.
Two and a half hours drive north of Helsinki. One and a half from
Tampere. Will Ryanair still fly there next June? How about Norwegian
or SAS? Sandwiched in the middle of the Leaving Cert before Chemistry
and Economics? Hmmmm....
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| Colin Henderson braves the elements |
Running Shorts
Ireland finished behind Wales in the Veteran Home International in the Mournes on July 16/17th. It's a foregone conclusion that England and Scotland will be out of reach, but there can be intense competition between the two smallest orienteering nations. Despite the men leading Wales by 39 to 38 overnight, the ladies didn't fare so well and the relays on Sunday were a downward spiral where Wales extended their lead to finish with 149 points to 117. Meanwhile, England extended their overnight lead to beat Scotland by 258 to 220.
Conditions in the Mournes on Saturday were trying, with heavy rain and swollen streams but Sunday's relays at Tollymore were run in better weather. Photos, results and information can be found
here.
Traditionally the VHI has been held in October or November, typically on exposed open mountain areas in far from perfect weather. Running the event in June seemed like a good idea, I'm sure, but it did have the side effect of moving November's weather forward 5 months ...
Setanta Rogaine Report
Setanta Orienteers' ran their 15th Rogaine in Wicklow on June 23/24. Not too many orienteers were running this year, but you can see the results
here. This year the 24-hour competition started at 2 pm on Saturday and the 6-hour at 8 am on Sunday, so they would both finish together. Stephen and Timothy Martin (Dark Peak Fell Runners, UK) won the 24 hour and Steven Linton (NWOC) won the 6-hour.
The start was near Glashaboy, in the Wicklow Gap area, but many of the controls were much further north, meaning that a return to base for food, rest and shelter wasn't such an attractive option this year.
Gear Up for Autumn
Check out the 3ROC "Get lost in the Park" series of four Tuesday evening events in Dublin's Phoenix Park in August (7th, 14th, 21st, 28th) or Fingal's Scatter series on the first four Sundays in September starting with a new map of DCU/Albert College on September 2nd. Fixtures information is back on the IOA web site.
Summer Summary
If
you're orienteering over the summer, why don't you write about your
experiences for TIO? The hours are long, the pay is lousy, but we'd all
love to read about it! E-mail theirishorienteer@gmail.com
July features the World Masters Orienteering Championships in the Harz Mountains in Germany (scene of WOC 85), the Welsh 6-Day Croeso 2012, and the World Student O-Championships at Alicante in Spain. Anyone on to report on these?
Wedding Bells Congratulations to CorkO's Ailbhe Creedon and Rob O'Sullivan who got married in mid-June at Glandore.
